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Turgay Ertekin named new head of energy and mineral engineering department

May 22, 2013

Turgay Ertekin named new head of energy and mineral engineering department

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Turgay Ertekin has been named the new head of the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME) at Penn State, effective July 1.

Ertekin is a professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering and holds the George E. Trimble Chair in Earth and Mineral Sciences. He also serves as a co-director of the newly formed Penn State Institute for Natural Gas Research.

“Turgay is well-known across the University and throughout his profession, and is a recognized expert by industry scientists and engineers,” said William E. Easterling, dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “Not only is he an esteemed scholar, he also is a distinguished teacher known and respected by nearly every graduate of energy and mineral engineering.”

Ertekin has had extensive experience with the development and application of fluid flow models in porous media. He has been deeply involved in the mathematical modeling of flow problems using various techniques for more than 35 years. Ertekin’s current research deals with the flow of gases in unconventional gas reservoirs, coal seam degasification process, well test analysis for composite reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery techniques, artificial neural network applications in petroleum, and natural gas engineering and reservoir characterization. Over the course of years, he has developed several multiphase, compositional, multidimensional isothermal and nonisothermal numerical flow models that simulate the performance and applicability of some thermal and nonthermal recovery techniques in petroleum reservoirs.

Ertekin received his bachelor of science and master of science in petroleum engineering from the Middle East Technical University. He earned his doctorate in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State before joining the Penn State faculty in 1978.

Ertekin holds memberships in the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and the American Society for Engineering Education. He has served on the Society of Petroleum Engineers Editorial Board holding various positions including a two-year term as the executive editor of the Formation Evaluation Journal and currently is an editor-in-chief of the Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Technology.

The EME department is one of the few places in the United States that houses integrated engineering and business programs related to energy and mineral resources under one academic roof. As department head, Ertekin will oversee six undergraduate programs and one graduate program with five specialty options.

“Turgay understands the multifaceted mission of EME and is the right person to promote balanced growth and development of all the department’s programs,” Easterling said.